Make your slides look like you used Flash
Want to make your humble slides look like you used Flash, Photoshop, or another fancy (and pricey!) Adobe tool – when you only used PowerPoint? Well here are some videos to help you do just that.
In 2013, the Duarte blog featured an animation of objects emerging from behind a line, as though rising over the horizon. And in a great 12-minute video tutorial, last month Nick Smith of AdvanceYourSlides.com showed how you can use that same effect on your own slides.
To extend Nick’s method, the 4-minute video below shows how you can reuse the effect on any slide, without having to customise it each time:
Create awesome cloaking effects
This is the 1st of 2 videos where you’ll see how to use slide background fill to create awesome cloaking effects in PowerPoint. (And here’s Part 2: Spotlight part of a picture.)
With visual effects like the ones in the video, people won’t believe you just used PowerPoint to make your slides. So that’ll really help you stand out from the crowd and get people talking about your message!
Over to you
Stand out from the crowd!
If you’ve any comments or questions about the video, please let me know. (I’m always happy to answer questions, and to thank you for joining in!)
The video that inspired me to write this post is one of many by Nick Smith. His videos show you the exact steps to follow in PowerPoint, and I especially like his 1st episode, about very professional-looking staggered animations.
Also check out
- 12+ ways to be remembered when you present (FiRST framework – part 3)
- 5 ways to be a top presenter – meet the FiRST framework
- Black is back, but better – 3+ new ways to hide your slide
- Here’s the RIGHT way to show your company logo on your slides – Be distinctive (not dismissive)
- Improve your image: Get 1000s of free photos for your PowerPoint presentations
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Remote Possibilities 
Hi Craig – I truly enjoyed your tutorial on using Slide Background fill for hiding objects that animate “through” the slide, and I’d love to see Part 2 as soon as you post it. Thanks so much!
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Part 2 is in the works, so please stay tuned. (Not sure whether you already subscribe to my blog, but if you do, you’ll receive new posts by email as soon as they’re published.)
Thank you for your support!
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I’ve used another method with multiple pictures on the slide, but I’d forgotten about Slide Background fill as an option. Thanks so much for the wonderful tip. It’s simply lovely listening/watching to your tutorials – I learn what I’m to do and I admire your presentation style, pacing and method. All the best!
Diana
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Thank you so much, Diana! It’s very encouraging to hear that you’ve enjoyed the tutorials here, and I really appreciate your feedback.
If you use Articulate Storyline, or want to rotate shapes like clocks or meters in PowerPoint, the post I just published a few minutes ago might come in handy too.
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Hey Craig, what a cool effect. Much easier and superior to my process. I’ll definitely do things your way in the future. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your process.
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No worries, Nick. Thanks for dropping by and for commenting.
It’s another of PowerPoint’s obscure features that often make people go “Wow! I had no idea it could do that!” (Much like being able to create interactive slideshows by adding hotspots to pictures, which I wrote about recently.)
I’m glad this video was useful. It was your clips that inspired me to start making video posts in the first place. So thanks to you, too!
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